A wide range of interesting articles that help you make informed decisions and deliver the best projects for your clients authored by our team of NBS subject specialists and construction industry contributors.
Sustainability
NBS Guide: Embodied Carbon Calculations
Learn how to align your carbon assessments with BIM workflows. This guide to Embodied Carbon Calculations, developed by NBS and Circular Ecology, sets out a practical, standardised approach to calculating the embodied carbon of building materials and products, and how to apply this data to BIM objects.
Must Reads
health-and-safety
The hidden cost of compliance: why architects are demanding a new era of product transparency
Few pieces of legislation have reshaped the UK construction industry as significantly as the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA). Introduced to improve accountability, traceability and safety standards ...
Design and Specification
Brick slip cladding systems – the need for robust specification
This article from the NBS technical team outlines specification for brick slip technology, including history, technology, design, safety and testing.
health-and-safety
When product data creates risk, AluK delivers the clarity and support architects need
The need to build more homes, more quickly, has not changed. If anything, the pressure has intensified. However, the conversation around Modern Methods of Construction has evolved.
The Construction Leaders' Summit: six key takeaways
1. Stop making excuses, start making changes All of us have had to adapt to new ways of working following the COVID-19 pandemic. We've seen that if a significant driver like the pandemic comes along, ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Reduce embodied carbon from the start
Measure, compare and reduce upfront embodied carbon using trusted UK data and pre-built assemblies.
A review of the Draft Building Safety Bill, and what it will mean for construction product manufacturers
So what is the draft bill? To directly quote the Rt Hon. Robert Jenrick MP from the Bill’s introduction: ‘The Bill will introduce a new era of accountability, making it clear where the responsibility ...
Design and SpecificationDigital Transformation
Health and Safety and the RIBA Plan of Work
This article is based on an NBS webinar of the same title featuring Sarah Susman, Head of Technical Development at Scott Brownrigg Architects, and NBS Technical Author Roland Finch. To view the ...
RIBA Plan of Work 2020RIBA Plan of Work
Fire safety and the RIBA Plan of Work
Based on a webinar of the same name by NBS Technical Author James Smith, this article looks at the importance of having a robust fire safety strategy and why it should be integrated into your ...
Design and SpecificationRIBA Plan of Work 2020
RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview – Question and answer
In April 2020 Dale Sinclair, Director of Technical Practice at AECOM gave a presentation giving an overview to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020. Following the session, a number of questions were raised by ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
Dust Regulation: Five Tips to Comply with Government Standards
In Great Britain alone, there are an estimated 12,000 lung disease deaths each year linked to past exposures to dust at work.
AsbestosHealth and Safety
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Our top summer reads on smart cities, big data and more
You took BIM for Dummies to the Bahamas last year, so what should you read this time around? In advance of the holiday season we’ve compiled ten of the most popular paperbacks on big data, smart ...
Fire safetyVentilation
Construction waste and materials efficiency
The statistics In 2015, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reported in their second edition of the Digest of Waste and Resource Statistics that, while efforts have been ...
SustainabilityHealth and Safety
12 of the biggest health and safety risks in construction
According to HSE, within the UK there are 80,000 construction workers who suffer from work-related bad health each year and 64,000 who suffer non-fatal injuries.
Fire safetyVentilation
Drones in construction
Even small-scale construction projects can benefit from a bird’s eye view. Getting a detailed picture of the lay of the land before construction even begins can be invaluable. And it’s not just ...
Design and SpecificationSustainability
What is PAS 1192-6?
Update: Since this article was first written, all the content from the NBS National BIM Library has moved across to NBS Source. ...
Digital TransformationHealth and Safety
Passenger or platform lifts - Which is best?
If your building has multiple floors or spaces where the floor levels change then its likely that you'll need to consider some kind of lift to quickly and efficiently move people through your spaces. ...